Humza Yousaf Resigns as Leader of Scottish National Party to Avoid Votes of No Confidence

The Prime Minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf, announced on Monday that he will resign as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and as leader of the regional government.

So he will avoid two votes of no confidence.

Youssef has led a minority government since Thursday when he sealed a coalition deal with the Greens after the Scottish government scrapped ambitious climate plans, stressing relationship between the two parties.

He was against a vote of no confidence proposed by the Conservatives, and Labor had proposed a vote of no confidence in the Scottish Government as a whole.

The vote proposed by conservatives against was already scheduled for Wednesday.

Yousaf, 39, became Prime Minister of Scotland just 13 months ago, replacing Nicola Sturgeon.

Sturgeon announced that she was stepping down as Prime Minister and leader of the SNP in February 2023 after a scandal broke out over the government’s position on transgender rights. She was in charge of Scotland for eight years.

Kate Forbes, Ash Riegen and Yussaf, who won, were against the SNP leadership. It was the first real SNP leader election since 2004, as Sturgeon was elected unopposed in 2014. The election reflected a split in the party between more party-leaning politicians right and those who lean more to the left.

Youssaf initially announced that he had no intention of resigning and that he was passing the two votes without confidence.

The Tories, Labour, Lib Dems and Greens all said they would vote against Youssef in a vote proposed by the Tories, so he had to ask for the support of Ash Riegen, the only MP who represents the Scottish party, which was recently founded by the former leader of the SNP, Alex. Salmon.

Rigena is also a former SNP member and was competing against Yusaf for the position of party leader in March 2023.

Yousaf, who is the first Muslim leader of a major British party, said he believed victory was “absolutely possible”. But he said he is “not ready to sell my values ​​or my principles or make deals with anyone just to stay in power.”